A Dragon's Beginning
by NotAtAllCrazy
Summary: Elsebet Kind-Heart was probably the nicest person you could meet, but she sought adventure and a life away from her home in Winterhold. On her nineteen birthday, she leaves the once-great town she calls home and heads for Falkreath, planning to start far from where anyone knew her as the daughter of a retired mage and a father that ran away. Look inside for extended summary.
1. There Be Dragons

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **EXTENDED SUMMARY**

* * *

Elsebet Kind-Heart was probably the nicest person you could meet, but she sought adventure and a life away from her home in Winterhold. On her nineteen birthday, she leaves the once-great town she calls home and heads for Falkreath, planning to start far from where anyone knew her as the daughter of a retired mage and a father that ran away.

Fate works in weird ways, and she finds herself in the company of an Imperial sellsword named Risorallen, who himself ran away from home after being attacked by a werewolf several years earlier, not wanting to hurt his family. As the destined Dragonborn of prophecy, Elsebet finds herself knee-deep in adventure as everyone needs help, but only Risorallen is there to help her when she needs it.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1  
THERE BE DRAGONS**

* * *

 _I brought the light to my face and smiled. He was surprised, even stunned by the pallor of my flesh, the dark hunger in my ageless eyes, and the teeth. Oh, yes, I think the teeth definitely surprised the man who could not afford to be surprised._

 _"I haven't fed in seventy-two hours," I explained, as I fell on him. He did not land the first blow or the last._

Elsebet Kind-Heart closed the book, tracing over the gold lettering sunken into purple leather. _Immortal Blood_ had been on her reading list since she could remember, and she was glad she finally got around to it. She placed it in her pack, leaning back and looking at the aurora above her, the cart she was riding in jostling her around. She was alone in the carriage, save the carriage driver, and that she was glad for that. She liked being alone, lost in her thoughts.

The two moons, Masser and Secunda, lit up the night sky along with the thousands of stars that accompanied the pair. Falkreath's pine forest passed slowly as the brown mare took her closer to the hold's capital. She had just come from her home in Winterhold, wanting to make a change in the world, and decided to do that on the opposite side of the country where no one knew who she was; Falkreath. She had trudged through the snow to Windhelm so she could get a carriage, because there was no way she was walking all the way to the small town, and there were no stables in Winterhold; not since the Great Collapse that happened eight years earlier, and her mother's house had been one of the only buildings that survived.

The carriage lurched suddenly, the horse getting free from her reins and bolting away as fast as she could. Elsebet found herself over the side of the wooden wagon, her face an inch away from face planting the cobblestone road, the only thing stopping her is her dress getting caught on a piece of wood. The whistle of an arrow sounded, and she closed her eyes when the dull thud of iron meeting flesh filled her ears.

"It's empty!"

"By the Eight, Er-La, I thought you said this would be good!"

An Argonian hissed. "There was a wealthy-looking woman on board!"

"Found her!"

Her eyes snapped open, and she saw her long red hair pooling on the ground below her. Something grabbed the scruff of her neck, pulling her up roughly back onto the carriage, where a Nord shoved her onto her back.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here." He reached for her hair, taking a strand of it and twisting it between his fingers. "I've never seen hair this red before, even on a Nord."

She kicked at the bandit, and he caught her foot. He clicked his tongue as she tried to kick her foot free, but he held firm.

"Looks like we're getting lucky tonight, boys!"

The cheers of several men filled the air, and Elsebet saw three other bandits behind the one that held her foot. An Argonian, a Breton and another Nord. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.

An arrow appeared in the bandit over her's neck, blood spurting from the wound as he let go of his foot, clawing at his neck. He fell to the side and grew still, his eyes wide open. Elsebet covered her mouth to stop herself from throwing up as the three other bandits drew their weapons.

Down the road, a couple archers clad in red and brown leathers drew their bows and took aim at the bandits. They let out battle cries and charged, but they didn't get far before they fell, their blood spilling onto the cobblestone road.

This time, Elsebet leant over the side of the wagon and threw up onto the grass.

The archers ran towards her, putting their bows on their backs, several carriages that were waiting behind them following them at a walking pace. The first one that reached her held out a hand for her to hold on to while she climbed out of the wagon, and she let go once she had her two feet on solid ground.

She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" He asked.

"I wasn't by myself." She turned and pointed at the dead carriage driver. "He was with me. Good lot that did, though."

He chuckled slightly, and she smiled again.

"I was headed for Falkreath."

He nodded. "We're heading for Helgen, which isn't too far from here. If you want you can join us, and when we get there you can rest and borrow a horse."

"Thank you, uh…"

"Hadvar."

"Elsebet."

The convoy—because that was what it was—had reached them, and Hadvar and Elsebet lagged behind the first carriage, that hold four people, two clad in blue Windhelm colours, and Elsebet realised that they were Stormcloaks. But if they were Stormcloaks, then these people were Imperial soldiers.

She'd heard from her brother that the Imperial Legion had come to Skyrim to rid it of the rebel Stormcloaks, and the siblings had agreed that the Stormcloaks were menaces and needed to be rid of. She would join the legion if she could, but she wasn't a warrior. The only weapon she knew how to use was a bow, and even that was bare-minimum. She'd only learnt how to use it in the first place was because her father had insisted she knew how to defend herself before he ran off just after the Great Collapse.

The walk to Helgen was quiet, except for the quiet chatter between the Stormcloak soldiers and a Nord in rags on the carriage in front of her. The fourth person, dressed in furs, was gagged, though she didn't know why.

When they finally got to Helgen a couple hours later, the sun had risen, and Hadvar pointed her to the inn. She thanked him and entered the inn. She sat down at one of tables and pulled out one of the books she had brought with her. After much deciding, she chose _The Mystery of Princess Talara, Part 1_. Along with _Immortal Blood_ , it was on her reading list. She'd only brought books she hadn't read before, and she used her honorary membership to the College of Winterhold to get the books from the Arcanaeum. She bit her lip as she remembered the note she left the librarian.

 _Hey, Urag! Just borrowing some books; I'll give them back the next time I'm here! Down below is a list of books I took._

She smiled as she opened the book, remembering the reason _why_ she got the membership. It certainly wasn't because she wanted to become a student, even though she'd sat through some of the lectures on conjuration; no, it was because she somehow always found herself on the roof of the college, or in a quiet corner of the Arcanaeum with a book, and they were tired of having her sneak through the grounds just to get somewhere high or to read. Her parents also got honorary membership, only so they didn't have to be accompanied whenever they wanted to collect their daughter.

Not even five pages in, the ground shook violently. The book fell from her hands and she gripped the table in front of her so she didn't fall from the chair she was sitting on. When the shaking stopped, she leant down and picked up her book, stuffing it into her bag. She didn't want to lose it; she needed to give it back to Urag once she goes back to Winterhold.

She stood up and, making sure her pack was secured to her side, made her way out of the inn.

She wished she hadn't. Because, sitting on top of the tower in the middle of Helgen, was a dragon as black as night. It opened its giant maw and let out a cry into the sky, making the sky turn from blue to a dark grey, and flaming meteors started falling from the skies. She stood, mesmerised, only moving when one of the meteors fell onto the inn.

She ran away from the destroyed building, her arms over her head to shield herself from the flying rubble. She collided with something, and she was sent sprawling to the floor. Cuts stung her palms as they scraped against the cobble road, and people rushed around her, townsfolk running away from the dragon that was roaring above them and Imperial soldiers shooting arrows and spells at the beast from the deepest parts of oblivion.

Someone grabbed her arms from behind her and lifted her up onto her feet. She spun around to see Hadvar grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the middle of the road. His grip was warm in hers, and the arrows in the quiver she hid under her red cloak knocked against each other as Nord pulled her away from the chaos.


	2. Why is the Keep Connected to a Cave?

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2  
WHY IS THE KEEP CONNECTED TO A CAVE?  
**

* * *

Somehow, they ended up in the keep. Hadvar leant on his knees, trying to control his breathing, while Elsebet collapsed on one of the beds that lined one of the walls.

Hadvar straightened up, his hands on his hips. He looked over at where Elsebet sat on the bed, her fingers curled around the bedpost, her eyes squeezed shut, her breaths laboured. He understood; oblivion, he was having a hard time not to crawl into the corner and sob. Dragons weren't real; at least, not anymore. That couldn't have been a dragon, but… what else could it be?

"That was a dragon."

He blinked at her as she opened her eyes. They were wet with unshed tears, and he saw that they were not brown like he thought earlier. Her left eye was a dark brown, yes, probably the darkest he'd ever seen on a Nord. But her right eye? It was a bright blue, and it shone like a sapphire in the light, made brighter by the tears that threatened to spill onto her cheeks.

He'd never met anyone with two different coloured eyes before.

"Yeah." He looked around the room. "We need to find you some armour. Do you know how to use any weapons?"

She nodded as he turned around, looking for armour. "A bow."

"Good," he said, opening a chest and finding a bunch of Imperial armour at the bottom, waiting to be used. He pulled it out and turned to Elsebet, almost dropping the armour when he saw her stringing an elven bow. "Where in oblivion did you get that?"

"I've had it on me since Winterhold," she said, pulling arrows out of her quiver to count how many she had. They were steel, not elven, like her bow. "It's been hidden under my cloak." She nodded and put the arrows back in the quiver, standing up, the bow on the bed beside her. She undid the clasp of her cloak around her neck and let it fall onto the bed.

Hadvar saw that he hadn't been mistaking her hair for the cloak; both of them were the colour of snowberries. He handed her the armour and turned around to give her some privacy, and five minutes later they were headed down the first hallway, Elsebet's cloak around her shoulders but her hood down, unlike how it was before.

There was a gate at the end of the hallway, and they heard talking on the other side of it.

Hadvar swore. "Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them."

She nodded, and Hadvar pulled a chain to open the gate. The two of them walked through when it sank fully into the floor, and Hadvar held his hands up to show that he didn't mean them any harm.

Unfortunately for the two Stormcloak soldiers—a man and a woman—they didn't get the memo, and pulled out their weapons. The man didn't get far before an arrow found itself in his chest, and he fell to the ground, dead. Hadvar watched Elsebet knock another arrow from the corner of his eye as he unsheathed his sword, ducking out of the way of the woman and her steel warhammer. She slashed at her middle, and she blocked it with the handle of the warhammer. She raised it over her head, but let out a scream when an arrow went through her chest. The warhammer fell to the ground, and Hadvar made quick work of her, stabbing her through the stomach.

She fell to the ground, and the duo went to the iron gate on the other side of the room. Hadvar quickly unlocked it with a key he found in the first room.

"You're pretty good with that bow," he said as they descended a large spiral staircase.

She groaned. "I was aiming for their knees."

He laughed, shrugging. "At least you hit them."

She smiled at him, but it disappeared quickly when the keep began to shake, and the roof just in front of them fell, blocking the way they headed. Elsebet coughed at the dust that filled the air, covering her mouth to stop it from entering her body. Hadvar's rough hand grabbed her arm, and she almost tripped in her too-big boots as he pulled her into a side room.

There were two Stormcloaks in there, and they were quickly disposed of. After fishing around for potions, since they were in a storeroom, they left the room through a second door and found themselves back in the hallway with the collapsed roof, only on the other side. The descended the stairs at the end of the hallway and they started hearing lightning. Elsebet took an arrow out of her quiver and knocked it, but didn't pull the string.

Hadvar sighed. "Torture chamber. Wish we didn't need these."

She shivered when she heard the battlecry of a Stormcloak, and when they rounded the corner she saw the torturer throw a bolt of lightning at a Stormcloak soldier, and he fell to the ground, his body writhing before stilling. And the death of his brethren, the other soldier attacked the torturer's assistant, but Elsebet raised her bow, pulled the string back to the corner of her mouth, exhaled, and let the arrow fly. It hit him in the neck—exactly where she was aiming—and fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat.

"You fellows happened along just in time," the torturer said, walking towards the pair. "I don't know how long we would've held them off for."

"We need to get out of here," Hadvar told them, a hurried tone to his voice. "A dragon's attacking Whiterun!"

The torturer scoffed as Elsebet spotted a book and knapsack on a low table. "A dragon? That's nonsense."

She made her way over to the book as the two argued back and forth. She picked it up and placed it in her pack, before opening the knapsack and taking everything inside of it—including several lockpicks.

"Forget the old man," the assistant said. "I'll come with you."

Hadvar nodded, then his eye caught on something. He started walking towards one of the cages on the edge of the room. "Looks like there's something in this cage."

"Don't bother with that," the torturer said, shaking his head. "Lost the key ages ago. Poor fellow screamed for weeks."

Hadvar ignored him and turned to Elsebet. "Can you pick locks? I'm horrible myself, but we might need the gold when we get out of here."

She nodded, pulling out one of the lockpicks she had just picked up and quickly picked the lock on the cage. She ignored the torturer as he scoffed and muttered something as she picked up the spell book and coins on the ground, raiding the pack on the man's side then stripping him of his mage clothes, which would give her a bit of gold. She ignored Hadvar's look as she folded the robes and placed them in her pack.

Hadvar turned and went down a corridor connected to the room, followed by Elsebet and the buff torturer's assistant.

Soon, they found themselves in a room full of Stormcloak soldiers, all of them looking for a way out and discussing whether they should wait for Ulfric Stormcloak or not.

Elsebet pulled an arrow out of her quiver and took aim at one of the archers on the other side of the room. The arrow sailed through the air and hit an archer in the shoulder, the man jerking backwards slightly as he cried out in pain. The three remaining people turned their heads to the trio as Hadvar and the torturer's assistant advanced from their position, Elsebet knocking another arrow.

After a couple minutes, the Stormcloak soldiers were all dead, the torturer's assistant heading back to his boss. Elsebet took the arrows out of the two archers' quivers and placed them in her own, as they were also steel. Hadvar led her through a tunnel, where he pulled a lever and a wooden drawbridge lowered over a gap. They crossed it as the keep shook again, and the roof caved in and broke the bridge.

Hadvar let out a breath as Elsebet inched towards the hole, the dragon roaring somewhere above them. "Guess we're lucky that didn't fall on top of us."

She slipped on a couple loose rocks and she tumbled into the hole. She landed painfully on her side, luckily on a flat surface of rock. Above her, she could see Hadvar's head poke over the side.

"You okay down there?"

She raised a hand and gave him a thumbs-up, groaning slightly. She stood up on shaky legs and brushed dust off her cloak. She picked up the arrows that had fallen out of her quiver. "I'm fine!" She put all the arrows in her quiver, then looked around for a way out. There was a tunnel to her left, and she looked up. "There's a tunnel here. I'm gonna follow it, see where it leads. Stay there, I'll come back."

She saw Hadvar nod, and she trekked through the tunnel. It was only a couple metres before she came to a turn, a skeleton lying in the corner, a coinpurse and a healing potion next to it. She pocketed the two items before turning. She walked through a set of broken bars, and she vaguely wondered if the other side of the tunnel was hidden by the rubble of the roof. A stream of water winded through the cavern she entered, and she looked around to see a part of a fort, with Hadvar pacing up a series of steps, running his hand through his dark red hair.

She laughed quietly, then cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hadvar!"

The Nord jumped, turning to her. He let out a breath and jogged down the stairs and over to her.

She pointed to the tunnel she had just emerged from. "The tunnel leads there."

He nodded. "I see that." He pointed to another tunnel, this one bigger and easier to see. "I think that's the way."

The two made their way over to the tunnel. It winded around, and along the way Elsebet picked up a coinpurse that was tucked into a corner. They came to a chamber with webs everywhere, and a couple spiders milling around.

Elsebet took an arrow out of her quiver and knocked it. She aimed it at the closest spider as Hadvar unsheathed his sword. The arrow flew through the air and hit the spider with a _squelch_ , making all the other spiders in the roommate look at the pair and advance on them. Three larger spiders descended from the ceiling. The two made quick work of the spiders, and they both shivered once all of them were dead.

"I hate spiders," Elsebet muttered as they went through another tunnel.

Hadvar pointed ahead of them. "There's sunlight coming through there! It's the way out!"


	3. Riverwood, the Home of Like Ten People

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3  
RIVERWOOD, THE HOME OF LIKE TEN PEOPLE**

* * *

The sun beat down on the Elsebet and Hadvar as they exited the tunnels under Helgen. The sky was no longer grey, and there were no flames in the nearby town. Elsebet tipped her face to the sun, the light making her red hair brighter. Hadvar couldn't help but stare at it.

"You okay, there?" She asked him, making a grin appear on his face.

"Your hair is extremely red."

Her cheeks went red.

"It's not a bad thing. It's gorgeous."

Her face went redder as he pushed a strand of her hand behind her ear. His eyes widened and he pulled his hand back when he realised what he was doing. "Sorry!"

Her response died in her throat when she heard a roar in the distance, identical to the ones the dragon let out when it destroyed Helgen. Hadvar dragged her behind a rock as the dragon flew over their heads, towards a ruin visible in the distance. Hadvar stood up, watching the dragon go, a hand on his sword hilt, making sure it didn't come back.

He sighed when it disappeared on the horizon, then held out a hand to her. She grabbed it and he pulled her to her feet. He wiped his hands on his kilt and looked at their surroundings.

"We're near Riverwood," he said as he looked at the ruin in the distance. "My uncle is the blacksmith there. He'll help us."

The two set off down the goat trail in silence, though it wasn't awkward. They got to a main road and Hadvar led the way to Riverwood. The silence was broken several times over the couple of hours they walked, just talking about anything at all. Once Hadvar had stopped them when they got closer to the ruin she had seen from the cave, saying that he got nightmares when he was kid of draugr climbing down from Bleak Falls Barrow and eating him. She had winced when he said that.

When they finally got to Riverwood, the sun was hanging low in the sky. The quiet sound of metal being hit filled the air as the pair walked into the town. As they walked closer to the forge, the man that was banging against the anvil looked up, wiping his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. He paused when he saw the two sweaty and dirty people.

A grin appeared on Hadvar's face as they got closer to him. "Uncle Alvor!"

"Hadvar?" The man called, putting his hammer down and running over to where the pair were climbing up the stairs to his forge. "What are you doing here? Are you from leave from…" He saw the condition the two were in. "Shor's bones, what happened to you, boy? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Shh," Hadvar said. "Uncle, please. Keep your voice down. I'm fine. But we should go inside and talk."

He looked confused. "What's going on?" He looked at Elsebet. "And who's this?"

Hadvar's gaze moved to her as Alvor looked at his nephew. "She's a friend. Saved my life, in fact." The corner of his mouth turned up. "Come on, I'll explain everything but we need to go inside."

Alvor looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded. "Okay, okay. Come inside, then. Sidgrid will get you something to eat, and you can tell me all about it."

He led them into his house, which was right next to the forge. It was warm and cozy, with a lot of stuff in it but it wasn't cramped. A woman was placed food on the table, and a girl—Daphne, she guessed, judging from what Hadvar had told her about his cousin—was playing with a doll on a bed in the corner.

"Sidgrid," Alvor told the woman, who had just placed a bowl of soup in the middle of the table. "We have company!"

Sidgrid almost dropped the soup when she saw who was with her husband "Hadvar! We've been so worried about you! Come, you two must be hungry. Sit down and I'll get you something to eat."

Elsebet opened her mouth to protest, but she stopped her with a look.

"Now, now. Any friend of Hadvar is a friend of mine. Come and eat, then afterwards I can draw you a bath. You look exhausted, it will do you some good."

She let out a weak smile. "Thank you."

Sidgrid waved a hand. "It's no trouble."

Elsebet sat down next to Hadvar as Daphne ran over to the table. She plopped herself down in between her parents and went for a piece of bread.

"Now then, boy, what's the big mystery? What are you doing here looking like you lost an argument with a cave bear?" Alvor asked, going back to why the pair were there.

They looked at each other before looking at Alvor and Sidgrid.

Hadvar sighed. "I don't know where to start. You know I was assigned to General Tullius's guard. We were stopped in Helgen when we were attacked by… a dragon."

Daphne dropped the piece of bread onto the floor, her mouth wide open, mimicking her mother.

Alvor laughed awkwardly, trying to rid the tension that filled the room. "A dragon? That's ridiculous. You aren't drunk, are you boy?"

Sidgrid slapped him on the arm, coming out of her stupor. "Husband. Let him tell his story."

Hadvar sighed. "Not much more to tell. The dragon flew over and just wrecked the whole place. Mass confusion. I don't know if anyone else got out alive. I doubt I'd have made it out if not for my friend here. I need to get back to Solitude and let them know what's happened. I thought you could help us out. Food, supplies, a place to stay."

"Of course! Any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. I'd be glad to help however I can." He turned to Elsebet "Like I said, I'm glad to help however I can. But I need your help. We need your help. The Jarl needs to know if there's a dragon on the loose. Riverwood is defenceless… You need to get word to Jarl Balgruuf to send whatever soldiers he can. If you do this for me, I'll be in your debt."

Elsebet nodded. "Of course. I'll leave tomorrow, once I have some rest."

Sidgrid stood up. "Come, I'll draw a bath for you."

* * *

The next morning, Elsebet found herself refreshed as she exited Alvor and Sidgrid's house, breakfast filling her stomach and directions to Whiterun in her head. First off, though, she wanted to sell a couple things she took from Helgen, so Hadvar had pointed her to the Riverwood Traders, the only general goods store in the small town.

The air was cool, so she wrapped her red cloak around herself, pulling the hood over her head to keep the sun out of her eyes. Her hair had been braided by Daphne, who insisted on doing it when the older girl had started, and she had done a pretty good job of it.

She walked the short distance to the Riverwood Traders and entered the two-story building.

The first thing she heard was the sound of arguing.

"I said no! No adventures, no thief chasing!"

The man behind the counter was yelling at a woman who looked like him, maybe his sister. She was glaring back at him.

"Well, we have to do something!"

The man seemed to have seen Elsebet, for he turned away from the woman and smiled at her. "Sorry you had to see that. How can I help you?"

The red-haired Nord walked towards the counter, an eyebrow raised. "Did something happen?"

He looked nervous, and it was obvious in his stutter. "J-just a break in, is all. Only one thing was stolen; a solid-gold ornament, in the shape of a dragon claw." She shivered slightly. "Say, you look like an adventurer. I saw the thieves making their way to Bleak Falls Barrow, the ruin on the hill. If you can get it back for us, we'll be in your debt."

She didn't really like people being in her debt, but she liked helping people. She smiled at him. "Of course. I'd just like to sell a couple things beforehand, if that's okay."

He beamed. "Of course! What do you have to sell?"


	4. The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4  
THE START OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP**

* * *

Elsebet left the Riverwood Traders with lighter pockets, more gold, and an extra quest. She didn't think anything of it; she'd quickly go through the ruin, give the claw back to Lucian, then head to Whiterun. She was sure she could put down a couple bandits, but just in case she headed into the Sleeping Giant Inn to see if there were any sellswords available.

As soon as she entered the inn, she heard the resident bard strumming lightly on a lute, obviously practising for later on in the day. Her eyes wandered around the room, looking for the tell-tale sign that someone was waiting for someone to hire them, and her different coloured eyes landed on an Imperial wearing a set of steel armour, a battleaxe over his left shoulder. He was sitting at one of the tables that lined the walls, drinking from a tankard.

She made her way over and sat down next to him.

He looked over, chestnut eyes full of curiosity. "Why are you sitting next to me?"

"Are you a sellsword?"

He shrugged taking a swig of whatever was in his tankard. "What's it to you?"

"I'm heading to Bleak Falls Barrow, and I need someone to help clean out the bandits and the draugr." She saw him raise an eyebrow and lower his tankard slightly.

"And why are you going to the Barrow?" He asked, turning fully so his shoulders faced her, giving her his full attention.

"I need to get something from there."

The Imperial thought for a moment, before shrugging again. "Why not? Five hundred gold, and I'm yours."

After swearing a little in her mind about the amount of gold she was about to spend for him to accompany her through _one_ ruin, she counted out five hundred septims and handed them over to him.

He smirked at her. "I'm guessing we're leaving now, right?"

She nodded at him, and together the two stood up. "I'm Elsebet, by the way."

"Risorallen."

 **X - - - - - - - - - - X**

Bleak Falls Barrow was extremely bleak, as its name suggested. The grey ruins stuck out like a sore thumb as the snow fell hard on Elsebet and Risorallen. They were taking a small break from walking up a mountain and a short fight with bandits halfway up, as they were sure more bandits would be roaming the ruins, and they couldn't do that if they were tired. After a couple minutes, Risorallen got to his feet and brushed the snow off of him, his black hair dotted in snowflakes.

He held out a hand to help Elsebet up, and she smiled up at him in thanks as he pulled her to her feet. She shivered as she wrapped her cloak around her, suddenly wishing she was smart enough to bring some padded armour, instead of her having to pry a set of hide armour off one of the dead bandits from earlier and put it on. It was freezing, and the armour revealed too much skin to be comfortable in that type of weather. Really, she was lucky she and that woman were the same size. Otherwise she would have still been in the dress she wore at Helgen, though it had been washed and cleaned by Sidgrid.

Walking low in the snow wouldn't work for them, since Elsebet's cloak was a bright red and her hair was the same colour, and Risorallen's hair was as black as night. The pair stuck out like sore thumbs in the snow.

So, they charged at the ruin when they got to the grey stone stairs, Risorallen hoisting his battleaxe over his head to bash one of the bandits and Elsebet pulled an arrow out of her quiver and aimed at the archer above them. It hit him straight in the chest, and he fell heavily onto the stone floor. Risorallen kicked a bandit in the stomach and put his axe in her head. Another arrow loosed, and the man that was running towards the duo fell to the ground.

Risorallen pulled his battleaxe out of the bandit in front of his and put it over his shoulder, securing it to his back. After they searched the bodies for money and things they could sell, they headed inside the ruins.

It was damp inside, and Elsebet could hear the quiet chatter of two bandits not much further into the ruin. The two stepped lightly on the stone ground, careful not to step on any of the dead skeever corpses. When the bandits came into Elsebet's vision, she raised her bow and knocked an arrow, aiming for the one facing her, a blonde Nord woman with her own bow strapped to her back. She let the arrow fly, and it hit the woman square in the shoulder.

She was jerked back as she screamed, her hand going up to where the arrow entered her shoulder. The bandit whose back was facing them drew his sword, the steel glinting in the light of the campfire next to him. An arrow hit him in the knee, and he crumpled as he let out a cry. The woman had drawn her own dagger, as her bow was now unusable thanks to her shoulder, and charged at the two. She didn't get far before Risorallen's battleaxe was buried in her neck. She fell down when he wretched it out of her. The other bandit's cries was silenced by an arrow in his chest.

Risorallen wiped the blood that spurt onto his face with the back of his hand, and he wiped the battleaxe off with the hide of the woman as Elsebet put her arm through the string of her bow and walked over to the chest in the corner. She tried to open it, but it was locked, so she picked it open and took what was inside—a coinpurse, a couple gems, and a few daggers.

The two made their way down the tunnel connected to the campsite. It twisted and turned, and Elsebet kept her bow out with an arrow knocked, the string slack, just in case they were jumped by a bandit or a draugr. After about half an hour of walking, they got to a set of stairs that led down into a chamber, smaller than the first one, with a bandit standing in front of one of three stones, the outside ones with a bird on it, the middle one with a whale on it. The bandit nodded, then went over to the lever that was situated in the middle of the room. He pulled it, and a bunch of poisoned arrows rained down on him, and he fell to the floor, his body convulsing for a moment before stilling.

Dead.

The darts stopped and Elsebet and Risorallen gingerly descended the stairs and stepped into the brightly-lit chamber. On the far side of the chamber was an iron gate, with an antechamber on the other side. Above the gate were two heads, the left one with a snake in its open mouth, the right one with a whale, with a crumbling face in the middle, and a stone snake, almost crumbled, rested against the wall between the iron gate and the three stone pillars.

"I've heard of these things," Elsebet said, pulling her hood off her head, showing Risorallen that her red hair was braided, and heading towards the first pillar. She pushed one of the sides and it turned slightly, a loud grating sound filling the air for a second. "You need to find the right combination to open the gate. A lot of them have traps integrated into them, and it looks like this one does too."

Risorallen stood next to her and tilted his head to the side. "Do you know the combination?"

She shook her head. "No. There must be something in this room that says it, though."

The two of them looked around the chamber for a moment before Risorallen pointed to the head statues above the gate. "Are those it?"

"Yes!"

She turned the pillars to show snake, snake and whale and almost ran to the level in the middle of the room. With her heart thumping, she turned to Risorallen, who was still standing near the pillars.

"If I die, give the golden claw you find later in the ruin to Lucan Valerius at the Riverwood Traders and head to Whiterun and tell the Jarl that Helgen was attacked by a dragon."

He shook his head. "You won't di- wait, Helgen was attacked by a dragon?"

"Yes, I was there," she said, wrapping her hands around the cool metal of the lever. She glanced down at the dead bandit who had tried to solve the puzzle last. "Promise me, Riz."

"One," he said, holding up a finger, "don't call me Riz. Two," he held up another finger, "I'm not promising, because you've got the right combination. Three, you survived a dragon attack, I'm pretty sure you'll survive a few poisoned darts."

She gulped down air and nodded. "Okay. Okay."

She gripped the metal lever harder and pulled.


	5. That's One Giant Ass Spider

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
** **THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5  
THAT'S ONE GIANT ASS SPIDER**

* * *

Elsebet waited for the pain of poison coursing through her veins, but it never came. Instead, she heard iron on stone as the iron gate in front of her slid into the ground. She let out a chocked laugh, and felt the arms of Risorallen wrap around her as she started to fall to the ground. He stopped her halfway, as she let out a few giggles.

"I'm not dead."

"Told you."

She stood up and pushed him away from her slightly, a grin on her face showing she didn't mean it. She motioned to the open antechamber. "Shall we?"

He let out a couple chuckles as the two of them went through the now-open gate. Elsebet pulled her bow off her shoulder in case of an ambush of bandits, but she doubted it since that bandit in the chamber behind them couldn't open the door. She pulled a few coins and gems from the burial urns on a table and pocketed a book called _Thief_ as Risorallen pulled a chain to close the iron gate.

Elsebet's head flew up when she heard the familiar squeaks of several skeevers. Risorallen took out a dagger from his boot as she knocked an arrow. She pulled the string as she turned around, facing a wooden spiral staircase sunk into the ground and led further into the ruin. The first skeever appeared from the hole and she let the arrow fly, hitting the body with a sickening _thud_. The next one came out and launched itself at Risorallen, who brandished his dagger as the third came out. It jumped at Elsebet, and she swung her bow at it before it landed on her. It flew into the wall as Risorallen kicked his off of him and sunk his dagger into its hide. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver to knock it but it charged at her again, and she thrust the arrow at it. It pierced it's spinal cord, and fell limp on the end of the arrow.

She grimaced as she put her boot on the body of the dead animal to pull the arrow out, and she almost threw up as the stench of matted fur hit her nose. She covered her nose as she wiped the blood off on a piece of linen resting on the table, throwing one at Risorallen when he asked for one so he could wipe his dagger off.

She placed the blood-stained—but clean—arrow back in the quiver as Risorallen put his dagger in his boot. He stood up straight and the two descended the spiral staircase.

It didn't lead down far; just far enough that they were a floor underneath the antechamber, with a wide tunnel leading forward, back under where they came from. Elsebet picked up the scroll and poison resting on a table before venturing down the sloping tunnel, relishing in the silence between them.

They turned at the end of the tunnel once Elsebet picked up a small coinpurse next to a skeleton and found themselves faced with spiderwebs. Elsebet shivered slightly as Risorallen reached into his boot to take out his dagger and cut the spiderwebs down so they could actually pass through, since it was thick enough for it to be solid.

After replacing his dagger, Risorallen lead the way into the chamber, which was as tall as the first chamber but not nearly as wide. There were spiderwebs lining the walls, with bodies of people and skeevers having been sucked dry of all their fluids ages ago. On the other side of the room, there was a Dark Elf trapped in spiderwebs, struggling to get out.

"Oh no, here it comes again!"

She heard Risorallen swear and looked up as a giant—although, judging by the cuts and scrapes on its massive body, wounded—spider descended from the ceiling on a piece of web, and she almost fainted at the sight of it.

She didn't though.

She reached over her shoulder and pulled an arrow out of her quiver as the spider touched the ground and spat poison at Risorallen, who quickly rolled out of the way and took his battleaxe off his back. She knocked her arrow and aimed as he slashed at the spider, cutting off one of the legs. It squealed horrifyingly in pain as green blood spurted out of the severed leg, and Elsebet used that distraction to fire her arrow, which landed between its head and abdomen. It let out another steal of pain and Risorallen buried his axe into its head.

He grimaced down at his axe as the Dark Elf sighed in relief.

"You did it. You killed it." He flashed them a thankful grin. "Now cut me down before anything else shows up."

"Do you have the Claw?" Elsebet asked, pulling an arrow out of her quiver and twiddling with it between her fingers.

His eyes widened in fear slightly. "Y-yes, the golden claw. I have it. I know how to open the Hall of Stories, as well."

"Hall of Stories?" Risorallen asked, replacing his battleaxe on his back. "What's that?"

"I-it's a Nordic thing, they put their history on the walls just before the main chamber, with the claw as a key to opening it." He looked at Elsebet. "You know what I'm talking about, right?"

She nodded. "Okay. I'll cut you down."

He sighed in relief and started thanking her profusely as she took Risorallen's dagger from his boot and cut down the spiderweb. After several painfully slow minutes of repeatedly hacking at the web, cleaning the steel dagger, and telling the Dark Elf—who told them his name was Arvel the Swift—to stay still, he was finally free, and Elsebet handed the dagger back to Risorallen.

That's when Arvel ran into the tunnel he had been trapped in front of, yelling that the secrets of Bleak Falls Barrow were his and he wasn't sharing.

"The git," Elsebet muttered. "Come on!"

The two ran after him, but as his name suggested, Arvel was swift. He ran ahead of them, gaining ground as Elsebet was not a runner and Risorallen was weighed down in his steel armour.

She stopped dead, her hands flung out to catch Risorallen's arm as he barrelled forward. He looked back as he almost fell backwards from the loss of momentum.

He looked back at her, a bewildered look on his face. "By Arkay, you're strong."

He looked back at the chamber the two were about to enter when he finally heard the groans, and Elsebet saw her first draugr. In the dim torchlight, she could see it's decaying sin as it clung to its bones, and though there was no muscle mass on the body, she could tell it was strong. It's eyes were sunken into its skin, and they glowed a bright unearthly blue. In its hand it held an ancient-looking axe, and it was raised over its head as it went to split Arvel's head open, but he stabbed it in the eye and it fell to the floor, the eyes no longer glowing.

He grinned in triumph and turned and ran down another corridor, but he was sent back as he stepped on a pressure plate, and a swinging spike trap hit him full-force and flung him into the opposite wall. He slid to the floor, dead.

Elsebet doubled over and threw up.

Risorallen scrunched his nose in disgust. "I'm guessing that was your first draugr."

She nodded, covering her mouth to stop herself from throwing up again, though if her body really wanted to, all her hand was going to do was get messy.

She stood up straight after a minute. "I think I'm good."

"You sure."

She nodded again.

"Alright." He entered the small chamber, the walls lined with alcoves, some of them empty, most of them filled with both decayed and decaying bodies much like the three draugr on the floor. He turned around when he realised she wasn't following, and saw her eyes darting from alcove to alcove, and he smiled slightly. He extended a hand to her, and she gingerly walked over and took it in her own. "Those won't be the last draugr in here, so we can either continue forward or backtrack out of the ruin. It's your choice."

She swallowed and glanced at the body of Arvel the Swift and shook her head. "We'll continue," she said. "Besides, I'm curious as to what's in the main chamber." She let out a small laugh, but he could tell it was forced. She pointed at Arvel. "Can you get the Claw?"

He nodded and let go of her hand, heading to the body. He checked through all of the pockets, pocketing the few coins he had on himself, and pulled out the golden claw with a thin leather-bound book, most likely a journal. He stood up and showed the claw to Elsebet, who was gaining her usual colour.

"It's a lot smaller than I imagined."

She let out a chuckle, this one real, making a smile appear on his face. He threw the claw to her, and she put it in her pack, on top of all the books she still had from Helgen and the few she picked up in the ruin.

She looked at the swinging trap and pulled her bow off her back. "Let's do this."


	6. Some Kind of Choir With Chanting

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
** **THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6  
** **SOME KIND OF CHOIR. WITH CHANTING**

* * *

Elsebet and Risorallen stood in front of the circular door at the end of the Hall of Stories, several nicks and and scratches on their arms and faces, and there were several holes in Elsebet's cloak. She'd either have to ditch it or get a clothier to sew it up. She pulled the golden claw out of her bag and looked it over, then at the wall in front of them as Risorallen placed the torch he had found earlier in the ruin in an empty brazier.

"How do we open it?" He asked, rubbing one of his cuts on his neck.

She shrugged. "Is there anything you found in that journal?"

When they had rested in an antechamber he had read the journal, saying that the guy was dead, he wouldn't mind. Plus he wanted to read, and he couldn't find any reading material. Elsebet had then pulled all her books from her pack and set them down next to her, and waited for him to see them. When he did, he _hmfed_ and turned around, continuing to read the diary as she replaced the books in her pack.

He pulled the journal from his own pack and opened it to the last entry. " _My fingers are trembling. The Golden Claw is finally in my hands, and with it, the power of the ancient Nordic heroes. That fool Lucan Valerius had no idea that his favourite store decoration was actually the key to Bleak Falls Barrow._

" _Now I just need to get to the Hall of Stories and unlock the door. The legend says there is a test that the Nords put in place to keep the unworthy away, but that 'when you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands.'_ "

He closed the book and looked over at his companion. "What do you think that means?"

Elsebet furrowed her brow slightly as she thought. "the solution is in the palm of your hands…" Her eyes widened and turned the claw over to see three carvings on the palm, a bear, a moth, and an owl. She looked up at the door and saw the three stone bands, each with its own carving on it. She placed her hand on the bottom one and experimentally turned it. The sound of stone sliding on stone filled the air, and she let out a cry of happiness. She turned all of them so it matched to carvings on the claw and set the claw in the spot under all the bands. She pressed it in and turned, and when she pulled it out the door slid into the ground.

They walked through the open door and ascended a set of stone steps. The main chamber was more like a cavern, with how large it was, and because the ruin had started turning into a natural cave. Bats flew above them, and sunlight filtered through a crack at the top of the cavern, and a bridge led over a chasm and a path led over to a stone platform, with a curved wall on it.

"Do you hear that?" Elsebet asked.

The faint sound of chanting filled the air and got louder the further into the cavern they got.

Risorallen looks at her, confused. "Hear what?"

Each step they took towards the platform, the chanting got louder, until it was deafening and Elsebet had to cover her ears.

"I think it's coming from the wall!" Elsebet shouted.

"Why are you shouting?" He asked, but she didn't hear him as she ascended the stairs next to the stone platform and slowly made her way to the curved wall. There were strange marking on it, looking like they were gouged into the wall with claws, and some of the markings were glowing. She lowered her hands from her ears and reached one out as she stepped closer and closer to the wall, like it was dragging her towards it. When she stepped into the curve of the wall, the carvings seemed to reach out of the wall and surround her, pulling her forwards more. Her fingertips touched the cool stone, leaving a tingling sensation throughout her body, and when she placed her hand on it she gasped.

The carvings— _words_ , she realised, in a language she didn't know—brightened and jumped off the wall and into her chest, sending her stumbling back. She would've fallen to the floor if Risorallen hadn't caught her. Her breathing became laboured as her eyes rolled back into her head, and then everything stopped suddenly. The ecstasy she was feeling, the light coming off the wall, and the chanting, all stopping so suddenly she almost fell again.

" _What the hell was that?_ "

She looked over at Risorallen, who had a bewildered look on her face, as the sarcophagus sitting on the edge of the stone platform opened up, the lid flying through the air and falling off the side of the platform.

Elsebet drew her bow and knocked it as Risorallen pulled his battleaxe off his back as the draugr climbed out of the sarcophagus. This one was different than the other ones in the ruin. For one, it had more armour, and the helmet it wore had horns on it.

Elsebet let the arrow fly as the draugr stood on both his feet. It hit his knee, but it didn't seem to faze him as he took the ancient battleaxe off his shoulder. Risorallen ran up to him and buried his own battleaxe into its side.

" _FUS RO DAH!_ "

The shout had come from the undead's mouth, and Risorallen flew across the room and landed hard against the curved wall. Eyes wide, Elsebet knocked an arrow and aimed it as the draugr ran at her, battleaxe raised over his head, ready to strike.

Everything seemed to slow down as she breathed. She aimed at its head and let the arrow fly. It landed between the eyes, and it fell into a heap of rotting flesh on the stone ground. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, but the breath soon left her when she head Risorallen groan.

She turned to him, dropping her bow on the ground and running to him. She knelt down next to him, her cloak billowing dramatically around her, and pulled a healing potion out of her pack.

"How much does it hurt?" She asked, uncorking the bottle, letting the sweet smell curl into the damp air of the chamber.

"A lot," he groaned.

She gave him the bottle, and he tipped his head back and gulped it down. His face contorted in disgust as he threw the bottle away from him, which shattered against the wall.

"How can something that heals taste so _bad?_ "

Elsebet shrugged. "Dunno. Guess it depends on the ingredients." She stood up and offered her hand to Risorallen, who took it. He let go when he was standing upright. "So, do we need to go through the whole ruin again or is there a way out?"

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye as he walked over to the dead draugr. "This is your first dungeon, isn't it?"

She walked over to him and nodded. "Yeah. Helgen was the first taste of adventure I'd ever had, if you don't count sneaking into the College of Winterhold to read."

"You snuck into the College of Winterhold to _read_?" He asked, picking up the ancient battleaxe the draugr had used to fight them. Elsebet noticed there were white lines snaking the hilt and blade, meaning it was enchanted, most likely with a frost enchantment.

She nodded, opening the chest next to the sarcophagus and pocketing everything inside. "Yup. I was a little book nerd. Got an honorary membership for me and my parents because they were sick of me sneaking in and having to escort ma and pa while they looked for me."

She didn't tell him the last time she snuck in was eight years earlier, when her father left just after the Great Collapse—except, of course, to get the books for her journey.

"Are you going to go back to Winterhold?" Risorallen asked, moving to stand next to her.

"I don't know. I want to, but… my mother's a retired mage, only retired because she hurt herself too much, and my brother and sister want to follow in her footsteps in joining the College. My brother, Istah, was in the middle of putting in an application when I left, and though I'm a lot closer to my sister, Hjolma, I couldn't stay in Winterhold any longer."

He furrowed his brow. "Why not?"

She rubbed her arm. "My other brother, the eldest of the four of us, Jorten, died during the Great Collapse eight years ago. I was eleven then, I couldn't leave." _Not like my father did_.

She turned to hide the tears that were threatening to spill onto her cheeks when something caught her eye in the sarcophagus. She furrowed her brow and went around the side of the sarcophagus to see it better. Sitting in the middle of the sarcophagus was a stone tablet, about a metre wide and tall and a couple inches thick. She reached down and picked it up. It was heavy.

She heard Risorallen walk up next to her and whistle. "That would've been uncomfortable."

She glanced at him before looking back down at the tablet. "Why was it in the sarcophagus?"

Risorallen shrugged. "Important stuff is buried with important people, aren't they?"

"Yes, but _why_ is it important?" She looked over at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Well, we're going to Whiterun, right? We can get the-"

"We?" She asked, raising the other eyebrow.

He sighed. "Yes, _we_. You honestly wouldn't expect me to accompany you through one ruin then let you out by yourself, did you? You hired me, and I expected I'd stay with you until either time runs out or you dismiss me." He glanced at her, a playful smirk on his lips. "I hope you're not dismissing me."

She elbowed the Imperial. "I just thought it was just for the one dungeon, is all. Now, what were you saying?"

"We could take it to the court wizard at Dragonsreach and get him to check it out. We're going there, anyway."

She thought for a second, then nodded, smiling up at the man that towered a heat taller than her. "Sounds like a plan. Now, back to the original question; how the _hell_ are we supposed to get out of here?"

* * *

 **Hello everyone! How are you? I'd really appreciate it if you review, it really makes my day!**

 **Enjoy reading! Bye!**


	7. A Squabble Between Housecarl and Steward

**A DRAGON'S BEGINNING  
** **THE MANY ADVENTURES OF ELSEBET KIND-HEART BOOK 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7**  
 **A SQUABBLE BETWEEN A HOUSECARL AND A STEWARD**

* * *

When they got out of Bleak Falls Barrow, the sun was high in the sky, meaning they'd spent the last couple hours since around dawn in the dirty, filthy dungeon, re-killing dead things to get a dragon claw-shaped object made of solid gold for a merchant who couldn't even go the building over and hire a mercenary because he was too lazy.

The two of them trudged the short distance to Riverwood and entered the Riverwood Traders. Lucan Valerius looked up from a book he was reading and grinned when he saw who it was.

"You're back!" He shouted in greeting. "Did you get the claw?"

Honestly, she was ready to stab him with an arrow. She had just spent several hours in an old crypt and he didn't even have the decency to say hello.

"Yes," she spat. "I have the stupid claw."

She pulled it out of her pack and dropped it on the bench. The shopkeeper's eyes widened.

"Thank you, so much! Here," he ducked underneath the bench and when he stood up straight, he held out a fat coinpurse to her, "take this. You've earned it for bringing back the claw." She took it from him, weighed it in her hand for a second, then placed it in her pack. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

A sly grin appeared on her face as she opened her pack. "Well, now that you mention it…"

* * *

After selling most of the loot they had gathered in Bleak Falls Barrow, Elsebet and Risorallen headed for Whiterun. The sun beat down on them, and Elsebet had folded up her cloak and put it in her pack because there were too many holes in it to give her warmth. It was the end of summer, just a couple weeks before autumn set in, and it was getting colder and colder every day. She needed to get her cloak fixed before it got colder.

The duo walked in silence, like they always did, and soon enough they passed the stables and made their way up the path to Whiterun. As they approached the massive doors that would lead into the city, a guard stopped them.

"Halt!" He said, holding out a hand with his other resting on his sword. "City's closed with the dragons about. Official business only."

Elsebet straightened her back. "Riverwood calls for the Jarl's aid."

The guard seemed taken aback. "Okay, then. Jarl's palace is at the top of the hill." He walked up to the gate and unlocked it with a key he took from a concealed pocket. He pushed the door open and nodded at the two as they passed. Elsebet nodded back.

They walked over a bridge and passed a blacksmith arguing with a customer, a man dressed in Imperial armour. They walked up between a couple buildings and into the main market square.

Risorallen still had the battleaxe he had taken from the draugr in the Barrow, and he wanted to disenchant it. He told Elsebet he dabbled in enchanting when she had asked why he didn't sell the ancient thing. If he couldn't disenchant it he would either sell it to the court mage or the blacksmith they passed.

They climbed a set of stairs after Elsebet sold a jewelled necklace Lucan hadn't had enough money for to the old lady outside what looked like an inn. She had eyed the meat stand as well, wanting some fresh venison as all she'd had to eat lately was stuff that could be preserved easily and packed for a long trip, except, of course, the dinner she'd had with Alvor, Sidgrid and Hadvar the day before.

They passed a dead tree and an upturned boat, which she recognised was the legendary hall of warriors, Jorrvaskr. Outside the front, halfway up the stairs, a teenaged boy, a couple years younger than Elsebet, was yelling at someone clad in wolf armour. She didn't hear what they were saying, except for when the boy turned on his foot and stomped away from the man.

"I'm going to the College and you can't stop me!"

A man appeared next to the other one, looking a lot like him, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Risorallen nudged her, and she looked over at him. "You okay?"

She nodded, glancing back at where the two men were entering the hall. "Yeah. Let's go talk to the Jarl."

They trudged up the many stairs leading to Dragonsreach, and the guards nodded in greeting as they passed over the bridge, and Elsebet swore she saw a skeleton bobbing through the wooden boards that made the bridge.

Although the main room of Dragonsreach was massive, it had a warm, inviting feel to it. There were two kids arguing between two pillars, and a maid was trying to break them up, but they were ignoring her. Guards loitered around, lazily guarding the palace as no one would have the audacity to break in. The large fire in the centre of the hall, raised to oversee everything, roared, providing the much-needed warmth to warm Elsebet up. On either side of it was a table, as long as the fire, and the throne sat at the end of it, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater lounged on it as he spoke to what looked like his steward and housecarl.

As the two approached, the Dunmer talking to the Jarl, dressed in leather armour with a sword by her side, turned to them and drew her sword, stopping the talk between the Jarl and his steward.

She approached them. "What is the meaning of this interruption? The Jarl isn't seeing any visitors."

Elsebet's eyes widened as the firelight glinted off the sharp edge of the Dark Elf's sword, and she swallowed the saliva building in her mouth. "I, uh, have news about the dragon attack."

The sword lowered slightly as the Elf blinked her red eyes. "Well, that explains why the guards let you in." She sheathed her sword and gestured to Jarl Balgruuf. "The Jarl will want to speak to you personally."

She nodded at her before walking over to the Jarl, butterflies filling her stomach. Risorallen stood a couple steps behind her, arms crossed over his chest and a fierce look on his face. Just like a mercenary should.

"You have news of Helgen?"

His voice was deep, and had the familiar twang most Nords had.

She nodded. "Yes, my Jarl. I was there."

The Jarl's eyebrows raised, along with the steward's and housecarl's.

"Truly?"

She nodded again. "Yes. I was resting while heading to Falkreath when the dragon attacked. It was as black as night, and it's eyes were blood red." She shuddered at the memory of those eyes locking on her when she exited the inn. "I only escaped because of the help of an Imperial soldier named Hadvar, who helped me to Riverwood and asked for your aid. When we left Helgen, the dragon flew overhead and towards Bleak Falls Barrow."

Jarl Balgruuf's fist came down on the arm of the throne so fast it made Elsebet jump slightly. "By Ysmir, Irileth was right!" He turned to his steward, a balding Imperial man. "What do you say now, Proventus? Should we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a _dragon?_ "

Irileth turned to the Jarl. "We should send some troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger-"

"The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume we've joined Ulfric's side and attack him!" Proventus cut the Dunmer off, almost shouting. "We should not-"

"Enough!" Jarl Balgruuf shouted, cutting off both of them. "I will not stand idly by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people. Irileth, send a detachment of troops to Riverwood at once."

Irileth nodded. "Of course, my Jarl."

"If you'll excuse me," Proventus said, "I'll return to my duties."

"That would be best." The Jarl looked at Elsebet with a kind smile. "Well done. You caught me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it." He snapped his fingers. "I do have a task for you, if you're willing to do it." He stood up, causing Elsebet to take a step back. "Come, we'll talk with Farengar, my court wizard."

Risorallen and Elsebet shared a look as the Jarl led the way down the raised dias and through the giant doorway on the right side of the palace. A man dressed in blue mages robes looked up from the desk he was writing on, putting down his quill.

"Can I help you?"

"I think these two can help with the… _dragon_ project."

Farengar blinked at him for a second. "Ah, yes." He turned to Elsebet and Risorallen. "I need you two to fetch me something. Well, when I say fetch, I mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of a stone tablet that may or may not be there."

"Stone tablet?" Risorallen asked, glancing at Elsebet.

The wizard nodded. "Yes. It's in Bleak Falls Barrow, I think. Most likely in the main chamber."

"Uh, about that…" Elsebet said. She pulled the tablet out of her pack and held it up in front of her. "Is this it?"

"The dragonstone!" He almost laughed as he took it from the Nord girl. "When did you get this?"

"Earlier today," Risorallen said. "We had to go to Bleak Falls Barrow to get something back for a shopkeeper that a couple bandits stole. We figured it was important so we were bringing it to you to study it."

Farengar let out a laugh and placed the dragonstone on his desk. He turned back to them. "If you want a reward, I can talk to Jarl Balgruuf for you."

They were about to answer when Irileth ran into the room, panting slightly, hair and eyes wild. "Farengar, you need to come at once. A dragon's been sighted nearby." Elsebet and Risorallen exchanged a look as the Dunmer took in a couple breaths and turned to them. "You should come, too."

Elsebet, Risorallen and Farengar followed Irileth out of Farengar's chambers and up the steps beside the Jarl's throne. Said Jarl was standing in the middle of what looked like the war room, with a guard who was sitting on a chair, looking shell-shocked. His helmet was resting on his knees, pointed at him, and Elsebet thought he looked a lot like Risorallen.

The Jarl looked at the guard as Risorallen stared wide-eyed at him.

"What's your name, boy?" The Jarl asked him.

He looked up at him. "Cyres Belinius, sir."

* * *

 **Thank you to everyone who has read this story! It means a lot to me that you've liked my summary and thought it good enough to enter! Please don't forget to review, I accept constructive** **criticism, but no flames please!**


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